Stand By Me
by Madison Dyann
Summary: I was fifteen going on sixteen the first time I saw a dead human being.
1. Dead Body

My name is Allison Moore. I grew up in the small town of Castle Rock, Oregon. To outsiders, Castle Rock might not seem like much but to everyone living there, including myself, the town had every thing they ever need. This is my story of growing up in a small town and having the best friends a girl could ask for.

*~*

I knocked on the trap door of the tree house. The tree house was a small building the guys and I built in one day when we were younger. I was very surprised that it was still standing. Already in the tree house was Gordie Lachance, Teddy Duchamp, and Chris Chambers. Gordie was a skinny short kid with dark hair and a big imagination. He was great at thinking up stories off the top of his head. Teddy was craziest guy we hung out with. He didn't have much of a chance in life. His dad was given to fits of rage. One time, he held Teddy's ear to a stove and almost burned it off. It was still there....mostly. Chris Chambers was the leader of our gang and my best friend. He came from a bad family and everyone just knew he'd turn out bad. Including Chris.

He dealt me some cards. I wasn't really interested in playing, so I just went through the motions. "Hey how do you know if a Frenchmen been in your backyard?" Chris asked as he threw a card down.

"Hey, I'm French, okay." Teddy said, taking his cigarette out of his month.

"Your trash is empty and your dog's pregnant." Chris ignored Teddy's remake. Chris and Gordie laughed loudly. I just rolled my eyes. Chris had told me that joke about a week earlier.

"Didn't I just say I was French?"

"I knock." Chris tapped his hand on the crate they were playing on. "29."

"22." Teddy said, defeated. He put the cigarette back in his month. I threw my cards down, also defeated.

"Piss up a rope." Gordie yelled throwing his cards. Gordie didn't swear much which provoked all of us to laugh.

"Gordie's out! Ol' Gordie just spit the bag and stepped out the door!" Teddy exclaimed, continuing to laugh his unusually creepy hyena laugh.

"Come on man, deal." I said finally getting into the game.

"I knock." Teddy said quickly after he finished dealing.

"You four eyed pile of shit." Chris was pissed.

"A pile of shit was a thousand eyes." Teddy said matter of fact.

"That's real....uh...intertresting." I said not sure if he was being serious. I never could tell with Teddy. Chris and Gordie just laughed.

"What? What's so funny. I got 30. What do you got?" Teddy said, confused.

"16." Chris said in between laughs.

"God damn. I suck at this game. I quit." I said, calmly. I threw my cards down. I was never the one to get upset of a card game like the guys were. Chris dealt again, this time skipping over Gordie and I. Gordie was reading a magazine as I laid back and watched Chris and Teddy play.

A quick knock can from the trapdoor. "That's not the secret knock." Gordie didn't look up from his magazine.

"I forget the secret knock. Let me in." A voice said from outside.

"Vern." We all said together. Chris moved the crate and let Vern up. He climbed in and next to me, clearly excited.

"Oh, man. You guys are not going to believe this." Vern panted. "This is so boss! Oh, man, wait 'til you hear this! Wait 'til you hear this! You won't believe it! It's unbelievable! Let me catch my breath…I ran all the way from my house."

Chris, with a gleam in his eye, turned to the rest of us and burst into song, "I ran all the way ho-ome! Just to say I'm sor-ry!" We happily joined in.

We could barely hear Vern say, "C'mon guys! C'mon!" Then, "Okay, forget it. I don't have to tell you nothing."

Chris silenced us, and in mock concern he asked, "Hold on, guys, hold on. What is it Vern?"

"Okay, great, you won't believe this, sincerely-"

Once again, "I ran all the wa-ay ho-ome!"

"Screw you guys!" Vern huffed.

"All right. What is it?" Chris smirked.

"Can you guys camp out tonight? I mean, if you tell your folks you're gonna tent out in my back field?"

"Yeah, I think so," Chris replied, dealing another round. "'Cept my dad's kinda on the mean streak. You know, he's been drinking a lot lately." He said this as if it didn't bother him, but I only knew that it secretly did.

"You've got to man! Sincerely! You won't believe this! Can you, Al?" Vern asked me. They never called me Allison, just Al. I think that if they called me Allison, it might come apparent to them that I was, in fact, a girl.

"Yea." My mother wouldn't care. My mother wouldn't care that her only child ,who was a teenage girl, sleep over with four other teenage boys. I never found out if it was because she trusted me or that she truly didn't care about what I did.

"So what are you pissin' and moanin' about, Vern-O?" Teddy asked.

Chris announced, "I knock."

"You liar! You ain't got no pad hand!" Teddy accused in response to Chris' laughter. "You didn't deal yourself no pad hand!"

"Make your draw, shit heap," Chris challenged, laughing as he looked at , I heard Vern's voice break through my attention.

"You guys wanna go see a dead body?" He had my attention. Apparently, he had everyone else's too.


	2. Under the Porch

Vern went on, "Well, I was under the porch diggin', you know…"

We all understood what he was talking about. At the beginning of the school he buried a jar of pennies underneath his house. He drew a treasure map so he could find them again. A week later, his mum cleaned out his room and threw away the map. He had been trying to find those pennies for nine months. Nine months, man. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Well, he was under the porch when he overheard his brother Billy talking to Charlie Hogan.....

"Jesus Christ, Billy. We have to do something."

"Why? Who cares?" Billy said, pulling out a cigarette.

"We saw him."

"So? He ain't nothin to us. The kid's dead, so we ain't nothin to him either. I mean, who gives a shit if they ever find? I don't."

"But it's that kid they were talkin on the radio. Browers...or Flours. Whatever his name is. The train must've hit him."

"Big fucking deal." Billy flipped his lighter closed.

We had all followed the Ray Browers story closely cause he was a kid our age. Three days before he had gone out to pick blueberries, no one had seen him since.

"I think we should tell the cops." Charlie admitted.

"You don't go squawking to the cops after you boosted a car, you idiot. They're gonna wanna know how we got all the way on Back Harlow road. Now they know we don't got no car. It's best we just keep our month shut, then they can't touch us."

"We could make anonymous phone call."

"They trace those calls, stupid. I saw it on Dragnet."

"Alright. I just wish we never boosted that God damn Dodge. I wish Ace had been with us. We coulda told the cops we were in his car."

"Well, he wasn't.

"Are we gonna tell him?"

"We ain't tellin nobody. Nobody, never. Got it."

"I know the Back Harlow road. It comes to a dead by the Royal River." Teddy said as soon as Vern finished his story. "The train tracks are right there. Me and my dad used to fish for Cossies out there!"

"Jesus Christ, man! If they would've have known you were under there, they would've killed you!" I said to Vern, which made his face turn pale.

Then Gordie had a very random thought, "Could he have gotten all the way from Chamberlain to Harlow? It's really far."

"Sure," Chris answered him. "He must have started walking on the train tracks and followed them the whole way."

"Yeah, yeah right," Teddy agreed. "And then after dark, a train must have come along-el smacko!" He punched his fist into his hand, imitating a hit.

"Yeah…"Chris trailed off, amazed. We were all briefly lost in our own thoughts, until Chris had an idea.

"Hey. Hey, you guys. I bet you anything that if we find him, we'll get our pictures in the paper."

"Yeah, yeah, we could even be on T.V!" Teddy exclaimed.

"Sure!" Chris agreed.

"We could be heroes!"

"Yeah!" Chris exclaimed again.

Vern looked reluctant. "I don't know. Billy will know I found out."

"He's not gonna care," I told him, "'cause it's gonna be us guys that find him, not Billy and Charlie Hogan and the boosted car."

When he didn't look convinced, so Gordie added, "They'll probably pin a medal on you, Vern," knowing it would suck him in.

I knew I had success when Vern lit up and said, "Yeah, you think so?"

Chris looked at Vern, and then said with sarcasm that only I could pick up, "Sure!"

The Vern remembered something. "But what'll we tell our folks?"

"Exactly what you said," I replied. Looking at Chris and Teddy, I said, "We'll all tell our folks we're tenting out in your back field," then pointing at Vern, I continued, "you tell your folks you're sleeping over at Teddy's. Then we say we're going over to the drag races the next day. We're rock solid until dinner tomorrow night," I concluded.

Chris nodded, impressed. "Man, that's a plan and a half." We skinned it, which was Chris' widely known trademark in our group.

'But if we do find that kid's body over in South Harlow, they'll know we didn't go to the drag races. We'll get hided!" Vern argued.

Reaching over to Vern, Teddy said, "Nobody will care! 'Cause everybody's gonna be so jazzed about what we found, it's not gonna make a difference!"

"Yeah," Chris agreed. "Well, my dad'll hide me anyway, but hell, it's worth a hiding!"

"Shit yeah!" Teddy exclaimed.

"Let's do it!" Chris decided, excitement in his blue eyes. "What'd you say?"

"Alright!" Teddy relied.

"Yea." Gordie said.

Chris looked at me. "Al?"

"Sure," I smiled.

Looking at Vern, Chris asked, "Vern?"

"I don't know…"

"Vern," Chris goaded.

"C'mon, Vern-O!" Teddy joined.

"Vern!" Chris continued. Then he pounced, grabbing Vern and wrapping his head in a headlock, and rubbing his knuckles on Vern's cropped hair, in a fashion typically associated with a "noogie". Teddy, wanting to join in on the fun, began by pinching Vern's chubby cheeks.

"Vern! C'mon, Vern-O!" They chorused together. I

"Okay, okay," Vern conceded, which sent Teddy into whoops of "Cool! Real cool! Very cool! Very, very cool!" We departed from the tree house and headed home to pack for our trip to see a dead body. Home for me was right in town. I was the only one of my friends that lived in town, everyone else lived on the outskirts. I ran home, stuffed a few thinks in a back pack, told my mom about my weekend "plans" and then left the house in search of the guys.


	3. Run In

I hide my bag among the bushes near the railroad, I didn't want to carry the thing longer than I had to. I found Gordie and Chris behind the Blue Point Diner looking at a gun. "Hey guys. Nice gun." I said walking up to them.

"Hawked it from my old man's bureau. It's a .45." Chris said offhandedly. Gordie took the gun and pretended to pull the trigger.

"You got shells for it?" Gordie asked, still playing with the gun.

"Yeah, I took all that was left from the box. My dad'll think that he used them himself, shooting them beer cans while he was drunk," he smirked, clearly pleased with himself.

"Is it loaded?"

"Hell no! What'd you think I am?" Chris laughed quietly. Gordie felt no harm in pulling the trigger. BOOM! I bullet erupted from the gun and hit the trash can.

"JESUS!!!!" We all yelled in unison. I took off running as fast I could, with Chris and Gordie on my heels. Chris was laughing and yelling, "Gordie did it! Gordie Lachance is shooting up Castle Rock!"

"Shut up!" Gordie yelled at him.

A waitress stormed out the back entrance of the diner, angry. "Hey who did that? Who's letting cherry bombs off out here?" Rounding the corner and feeling that it was safe enough to stop fleeing, I slowed to a walk. Chris' laughter rung in my ears as he and Gordie rounded the corner and caught up with me. Gordie was pissed.

"You knew it was loaded, you wet end! I'm gonna be in trouble now. That supper babe saw me!"

"Shit, Gordie! She thought it was fire crackers!" Chris said. I hung back behind them, not wanting to get involved in their pathetic dispute.

"I don't care! That was a mean trick, Chris!"

"Hey, Gordie," he said, urgently, grabbing his shoulders and turning Gordie to face him. He looked sincerely sorry. There was no trace of sarcasm. He knew where to draw the line with Gordie. "I didn't know it was loaded. Honest."

"You swear?"

"Yeah, I swear,"

"On your mother's name?"

"Yeah," Chris replied a little impatiently.

"Even if she goes to hell, cause you lied?" He continued.

"Yeah, I swear!"

"Pinkie swear?" Gordie asked, holding up his pinkie finger.

Chris sighed. "Pinkie swear," he replied softly as he crossed his chest, kissed his pinkie and held it in the air, similar to Gordie's. Gordie decided that he was satisfied. With their dispute settled, I took a walk besides Gordie, closet to the wall. Before going ten feet, I wished I had taken to the street side.

Ahead of us, two guys walked out of the store. One was Chris's older brother, Eyeball Chambers. He looked very different from Chris. While Chris was kind of short and skinny, Eyeball was tall and muscular. Everything about them was different. From their hair color, Chris's was blond and Eyeball's was a dark brown, to their attitudes.

The guy next to Eyeball was Ace Merrill, the leader of the local 'gang' known as the Cobras. Ace was about the same height as Eyeball but a little tall. His short blond hair pointed in all different directions due to the amount of grease in it. Upon walking out of the store, Ace wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into him. "How ya doing, Allison?" Ace asked, throwing his cigarette on the ground. Ace was probably the only person in Castle Rock that called me by my real name. He did it because he knew it annoyed me. Normally I wouldn't let a man touch me so inappropriately, but I knew Ace just wanted some sort of reaction out of me. He had been doing his for almost a year now and I had learned how to ignore him. I would just let him do whatever until he got bored and left me alone.

"Hi, Ace." I said with no emotion. "Do you mind?" Ace's only response to my greeting was to push against the wall and kiss me. The shock only lasted a second or two. Then I just closed my eyes and thought of something else besides Ace's lips on mine. The brick wall behind me. I sunlight shining on my skin. The sound of Eyeball laughing. After a few seconds of this, I got annoyed. I tried pushing Ace off of me but he was too big. Giving up, I resorted to my last option. I brought my knee and kicked Ace in the shin. I was careful to avoid not going to far up his leg. The last time I did that he gave me hell for a week. I took his momentary shock as a chance to get out of his grip and jump behind Chris and Gordie.

Chris was able to redirect Ace's anger from me to himself. "You're a asshole, you know that?"

"Your brother's not very polite, Eyeball." Ace advanced towards Chris.

"Now, Christopher. I know you didn't mean to insult my friend." Eyeball said sarcastically.

"I know he didn't mean to insult me. Which is way I'm giving him the opportunity of talking it back." Ace then grabbed Chris by the head and threw him to the ground. He then bent Chris arm at an odd angle. "Take it back, kid."

"C'mon Ace, stop." Gordie and I said.

"Take it back, kid." Ace picked up his discarded cigarette and held it close to Chris's eye. Eyeball laughed quietly.

"Okay, okay. I take it back. I take it back." Ace then picked Chris back up and set him on his feet.

"There. Now I feel a whole lot better about this. How about you? Good." Ace then patted my head and turned around and walked away.

"See you later, girls." Eyeball then followed Ace around the corner.


	4. Train Dodge

It was around noon when we started on our way to see the dead body of a kid named Ray Brower. We met up with Teddy and Vern at the railroad tracks. After I collected by bag from under the bush, Chris told the others about the gun. "But why to we need a pistol?" Vern asked.

"Supposed we're sleeping out at night in the woods. We might see a bear...or a trash can." Chris said laughing.

"I brought a comb." Vern said, proud of himself. He pulled it out of his pocket. It was white and shiny.

Chris looked at him in confusion. "What do we need a comb for?"

"Well, if we get on T.V., we wanna look good, don't we?" Vern answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's a lot of thinking, Vern," Gordie remarked.

"Thanks."

Teddy made a sharp movement towards Vern, causing him to flinch. "Two for flinching," he said nastily, punching him twice in the arm. We all looked at the tracks leading into the distance ahead of us. Chris looked frustrated, calculating. Teddy was the first to speak. "How far do you think it's gonna be?" he questioned to no one in particular.

Chris answered him. "If we follow the tracks all the way into Harlow, it'd be about 20 miles. Sound about right to you, Al?" he asked me.

"Yeah, yeah. It might even be 30…" I answered.

Vern looked worried. "Hey, maybe we should just hitch hike?" We all turned to look at him like he was crazy. Then we started down the tracks.

"No way. That sucks!" Teddy answered.

"Why not?" Vern asked, exasperated. "We could go out on seven to the Shiloh Church, and down the Back Harlow Road. We'd be there by sundown."

"That's pussy!" Teddy replied.

"Hey, it's a long way!"

Teddy turned to look at Vern. "Did your mother ever have any kids that lived?" he asked nastily.

That comment was completely lost on Vern. "What do you mean?"

Shaking his head, Teddy muttered, "Jesus," under his breath, and continued to follow Chris, Gordie and I, who were just up ahead of them. Later, out in the open country, and still on the tracks, we entertained ourselves with a song we all loved. We sang in time with each other, but the loudest was Chris, who always put more effort into this song than the rest of us. I walked behind Chris and Gordie and in front of Teddy and Vern.

"We'll stop off at the junkyard," I heard Gordie tell Chris. "My dad says it's a safe bet."

"Not if Chopper's there," Vern reminded us.

"If Chopper's there, we'll send YOU in," Chris remarked.

"Ha-ha, very funny."

A few seconds later, Vern's voice sounded again. "Hey, I'm kinda hungry. Who's got the food?"

"Shit!" Teddy groaned. We all stopped dead and looked at each other. "Did anybody bring anything?"

"Not me," Chris answered. "Al? Gordie" he asked looking at us hopefully.

We shook shook head.

"Oh. Oh this is great!" Teddy said sarcastically. "What are we supposed to do? Eat our feet?"

"You mean you didn't bring anything either," Chris accused.

"Well shit, this wasn't my idea," he remarked, as Chris kicked the ground in anger, "it was Vern's. Why didn't you bring something?" he rounded on Vern.

"What am I supposed to do? Think of everything? I bought the comb."

"Oh, great, you bought the comb! What'd you need a comb for? You don't even have any hair!"

"I got it for you guys, god damn it!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" I intervened, holding Teddy and Vern apart.

"Let's see how much money we got," Gordie reasoned calmly.

We all sat down on the tracks. Gordie held out his hand for our money.

"I got a $1.02. 68 cents from Chris. 60 cents from Teddy, 80 cents from Al," He commented, pleased, until Vern handed over what little he had.

"7 cents, Vern?" Gordie asked in disbelief looking over at him.

"I haven't found my pennies yet," he shrugged.

Counting the money, he conclude, "Well, $3.17's not bad. Quidachalo's is on that little road that goes by the junkyard. I think we can get some stuff there."

Getting up, Chris said, "Train's comin'" and sure enough, there was a train in the distance. We all got up off the tracks and moved over onto the grass. All of us, that is, except for Teddy, who was facing the oncoming train.

"Come on, Teddy!" I called, but he ignored me.

"No. Uh-uh. I'm gonna dodge it," he replied, throwing his pack to us.

"Come on Teddy, man. Get off the tracks. You're crazy!" Chris commanded, looking extremely nervous as he glanced between Teddy and the oncoming train.

"Train dodge. Dig it." Teddy trailed off, staring at the train.

"Get the hell off the tracks, Teddy! You wanna get yourself killed!" Chris yelled at him.

Still, Teddy ignored us. "Just like the beach at Normandy," he muttered, and then imitated a machine gun in a bloody battle. And still, that train moved ever so closer, making the us of rest more nervous. Deciding enough was enough, Chris threw down his bag and ran onto the tracks. Grabbing Teddy, he struggled to pull him off the tracks. Thankfully, he managed to seconds before the train passed the exact spot where Teddy had just been standing.

Teddy was not happy.

Gordie sprung forward, grabbing Chris' shoulders as he and Teddy tried to lay into each other. Chris was screaming something at Teddy, but his words were lost amid the passing train. Nevertheless, Teddy, restrained by Vern, struggled to get his hands on Chris. When Gordie thought it was safe enough to let go of Chris, he let his hands drop. Everyone could hear Chris' every word, now the train had passed.

"I'm just trying to save your life!" he bellowed. "You wanna kill yourself! Is that what you want, god damn it! You're trying to kill yourself!"

They stared at each other for what seemed like forever, Teddy angrily, and Chris, expectant.

Finally, Teddy said icily, "I don't need no babysitter."

"You do too." Chris remarked.

"You all do. Why to we think I came along." I said, trying to calm everyone down.

After a moment, Chris held out his hand to Teddy. "Skin it," he stated.

But Teddy shook his head. "I could have dodged it." He picked up his pack, and started to walk away. But Chris determined to have peace, chased him and stopped him.

"Listen Teddy! You dodge them on the way back, man!" He held out his hand once again. "Peace. Skin it." He a moment, Teddy sighed and slid his palm twice along Chris'. Smiling, Chris clapped his shoulder, and then turned back to me, Gordie and Vern. Glad that that confrontation was over, we picked up our bags and continued on our way.


	5. Mailbox Baseball

About this time Charlie and Billy were playing mailbox baseball with Ace and Eyeball. Ace leaned over the side of the car and swung the metal bat. The mail shatter when the bat hit it. "Ya shit, I'm out. God dammit." Ace said, sitting down.

"Shouldn't have gone for a wooden one." Eyeball said while he was driving. He laughed quietly.

"Why don't you tell me somethin' I don't know, asshole. Billy, you're up." Ace passed the bat to Billy in the back seat.

"Na, you guys win. I don't wanna play no more."

"Hey. You can't quit. We've only played three endings. It would be an unofficial game." Eyeball said.

"Hey, Ace. We, uh,-" Charlie tried to say something but Billy elbowed him quickly.

"What's with you homos? You've been actin' psycho all day." Ace said sharply. "What is it?" Ace said again when Billy and Charlie just looked at him.

"It's nothin. It's nothing. Right? It's nothing." Billy never took his eyes off of Charlie as he answered.

"Then, if you gentlemen don't mind, I would like to finish this game before I started collecting my God damn social . You're up, Billy. Move it." Ace handed Billy the bat.

"All right. Get this fucking thing." Billy threw his empty beer bottle out of the car and stood up.

"Let's play ball." Ace said loudly. Billy hit a mailbox but it did not fall all the way off so Eyeball said,

"Foul ball."


	6. Flip For It

About an hour after leaving town we arrived as the junk yard. The place was mostly filled up with old rusty wrecked vehicles and a few old pieces of farm of equipment. "Hey, Vern. It looks like your mom's been out driving again." Gordie said, breaking the silence.

"Ha ha. That was so funny I forgot to laugh." Vern replied.

"Stand back men." Teddy yelled as he threw is stuff of the fence. We all followed his lead and climbed over the fence, ignoring the 'No Trespassing' sign. No trespassing was enforced by Milo Pressmen, the junk man, and his dog, Chopper, the most feared and least seen dog of Castle Rock. Legend had it that Milo had taught Chopper not only to sic but to sic certain parts of the human anatomy. Thus, a kid you had illegally scaled the junk yard fence might hear the dread cry "Chopper, sic balls." But right now neither Milo or Chopper were any where to be seen. Once all of us had climbed the fence we collected out stuff and headed towards the water pump. The race each other while I jogged slowly behind. I could have easily beat all of them to the pump but I didn't want to spoil their fun.

After filling our bottles up with water, we gathered around an old falling about truck. We took to throwing rocks into an old tin can. "Hey, have you guys been watching the Mickey Mouse club lately?" Teddy asked.

"Yea." We all said in unison.

"I think Annette's tits are getting bigger." Teddy said, not caring that I was preset.

"You think so?" Chris said casually.

"Yea, I think so." Teddy smiled.

"Yea. I think your right. I noticed that the A and E are starting to bend around the sides." Gordie laughed.

"You guys are sick." I said after I rolled my eyes.

"You're just jealous." Teddy laughed. I gave him a dirty look.

"This is really a good time." Vern said after he recovered from laughing.

"The most." Chris threw another rock at the can. Vern didn't just mean being out limits inside the junk yard. Or fudging on our folks or doing up the railroad tracks to Harlow. I meant all those things. It seems to me now, it was more. And that we all knew it. Everything was there and around us. We knew exactly who we were and exactly where we were going. It was grand.

Teddy took a drink of water and instead of swallowing it, he spitted it in Vern's face. We all laughed loudly. "Oh, great. Spit at the fat kid. Real nice." Vern complained. "What time is it, Gordie?"

"Um....its a quarter after one."

"We better go get the food. Junk yard opens at three. Chopper will be here." Vern sounded scared.

"Ooh, sic balls!" Chris teased.

Teddy chuckled. "You go. You can pick us up on the way back," he said to Vern.

"I'm not going alone. We should all go."

"I'm staying right here!" Teddy decided.

I'm not going." I said firmly. I didn't want to walk all the way to the store by myself.

"Yeah man, I'm not going!" Gordie added.

We began to argue, but Chris intervened. "Girls, girls! Cool it. We'll flip for it."

"Okay," Gordie conceded, reaching into his back pocket for coins. "Odd man goes?"

"That's you, Gordie. Odd as a cod!" Teddy teased.

Gordie ignored him, and handed each of them a coin.

We all flipped and everyone was even.

"Four tails!" Vern exclaimed. "That's a goocher."

We all groaned. "Vern!"

"Let's go again!" Chris commanded.


	7. I Grow Up

"No man. That's a goocher," Vern continued. "It's really bad. You remember when Clint Brackett and those guys got wiped out on Weed Hill and Derm? Billy told me they were flippin' for beers, and they came up with a goocher just before they got into the car. And, BANG! They all got totaled! I don't like this man. Sincerely."

If everyone landed on tail it was supposed to be very bad luck. And if they all landed on heads than very good luck. It wasn't until after this whole adventure that I realized that we did have bad luck, tons of it.

"Vern-O!" Teddy cried. "Nobody believes that crap about moons and goochers. That's baby stuff! Now, come on, flip again!"

We all flipped, except Vern.

"You gonna flip or not!" Teddy cried.

"Come on Vern! We haven't got all day!" Chris hounded.

With a heavy sigh, Vern flipped. Gordie was the odd one out, just as Teddy had predicted. As I looked down at my coin, it was the same as Gordie, heads.

"You lose, Gordie, Al!" Teddy yelled, and laughed his creepy laugh.

I shook my head. Gordie had a sadden expression on his face.

"Gordie and Al loses! Gordie and Al just screwed the pooch!" Teddy continued gleefully.

Gordie looked up at him. "Does the word 'retarded' mean anything to you?"

His laughter stopped. "Gordie, go get the provisions, you morphadite."

"Don't call me any of your mother's pet names!" Gordie snapped as we got up.

"What a wet end you are, Lachance," was Teddy's reply.

"Shut up!" Gordie whirled around angrily.

"I don't shut up…" Teddy began, pointing at himself. Without even the slightest of nudges, Chris and Vern joined in on Teddy's chant.

"…I grow up. And when I look at you, I throw up!" They all made gagging noises.

"And then your mother goes around the corner and she licks it up," I countered. Two could play at that game. Finding newer and more disgusting way to make fun of one's mom was always held in high regard.

"Oooh!" they all teased. Then Chris began to wrestle with Vern and Teddy. I rolled my eyes. Boys. Leaving them to their wrestling match, Gordie and I climbed the fence and headed to the store.


	8. Chopper, Sic Balls!

It didn't take us long to get the General Store. The trip was fairly uneventful, except when I tripped over a hole in the ground and ripped the knee out of my right pant leg. Gordie was still laughing when we reached the store.

I grabbed five Cokes as Gordie examined the buns. The man behind the counter got the meat that I had asked for. I flipped through a magazine as I waited for Gordie to decide which package of buns he wanted. All the while, I felt the clerks eyes on me, watching my every move., what for me to steal something.

When Gordie was finished, I followed him to the counter where the clerk was still weighing the meat. When he was finish putting it on the scale, I noticed that he kept his thumb pushed down on it. The needle flickered to the right even more. I gave him a second to remove his thumb and reweigh the meat, but he kept his thumb there. "Uh, sir. Could you please remove your thumb from the scale? You're weighing it down." I said it as innocently as I could manged. He made a disapproving face and removed his finger.

Gordie gave me a confused look, but I just shook my head. The clerk total all the food and said "That'll be 1.63." I stared at the man, as Gordie started to count out the money. I calculated the cost in my head and the total only came to 1.50. By that point I was fed up with the guy's tricks.

"Listen here, mister. What are trying to pull? You think that just because we're kid, you can rip us off?" I was almost yelling.

The man's response was yelling, "Now you do you think you are, talking to me like that? I should call both your parents!" I quickly gabbed the food and pulled Gordie's hand as I ran for the door. "Hey! Get back here. You have to pay for that!"

"You have to catch us first, fat ass!" Gordie yelled over his shoulder, as we ran back to the junk yard.

Exhausted from our shoplifting, Gordie and I slowly climbed the junk yard fence. The place was quite. No one was there. I looked around, puzzled. Were they playing some kind of stupid joke on us? Then Gordie point over to the other fence. Chris, Vern and Teddy were all jumping back over the fence. I stared at them, still confused over their actions. There was no need to leave yet. However, I heard a voice that provided the answer as to why they were leaving in such a hurry.

"Hey! Hey, you kids!" We turned and saw Milo Pressman the junkyard man a few yards away. "What are you doing there?"

I panicked and ran with waiting on Gordie. By the tone of Milo's voice I could tell that Gordie was running to. "You! You! Come back here!" was all I heard. "God damn it! I'll sic my dog on ya!" I ran as fast as my legs would allow. Ran. Ran to the fence, where the guys were screaming at us in encouragement, urging us on. I didn't want to hear what Pressman said next.

"Sic 'em, boy!" That's what I heard, but I would bet my life's earnings that Gordie had heard, "Chopper, sic balls."

When I reached the fence, I quickly pulled myself over the top. I didn't care how I landed, just as long as I was on the other side of the fence. I ended up landing on top of Chris, who caught me an awkward way and then collapsed under my weight. Gordie landed on the ground next to us.


	9. Loony!

I quickly got off of Chris and hopped onto my feet as Chopper jumped on the fence. Chopper was a small Golden Retriever. He wagged his tail as he bark at us. "That's Chopper?" Chris panted as he got to his feet. Chopper was our first lesson in the vast difference between myth and reality.

"Come on, Choppy! Kiss my ass, Choppy!" teddy teased Chopper. Vern and Chris were crying with laughter, while I stood back, trying to catch my breath.

"Hey you kids! Stop teasing that dog! You hear me!" Pressman cried as he arrived at the fence. "Sonny, I'm gonna beat your ass, teasing my dog like that!" he growled at Teddy. I couldn't help but laughing.

Teddy replied, "I'd like to see you climb over this fence and come get me, fat ass!"

"Don't you call me that. You little tin weasel, pecker of wood, loony son." A laugh caught in throat as everyone fell silent. The smile had melted from Teddy's face. Hatred flamed up behind his glasses.

"What did you call me?" Teddy asked, deadly quiet, watching Pressman. We all looked at Teddy, worried about how Teddy would react.

"I know who you are," Pressman sneered. "You're Teddy Duchamp. Your dad's a loony. A loony up at the nut house in Toucos. He took your ear, and he put it to a stove and he burned it off."

Chris placed a strong hand on Teddy's shoulder. "My father stormed the beach at Normandy," Teddy replied icily.

Pressman scoffed. "He crazier than a shit house rat! No wonder you're acting the way you are, with a loony for a father."

"You call my dad a loony again, and I'll kill you." Teddy voice remain quiet.

"Loony, loony, loony!" Pressman taunted.

Teddy snapped. " I'm gonna rip your head off and shit down your neck!" he screamed, jumping onto the fence. He tried to climb over, but Chris and Gordie pulled on his shoulders, restraining him with all their strength.

"You come on and try it, you little slimy bastard!" Pressman kept talking.

"He wants you to come over there so he can beat the piss out of you and take you to the cops!" Chris yelled at Pressman, pinning Teddy's arms behind his back. He was the only one capable of successfully restraining Teddy.

"You watch your mouth, smart guy! Let him do his own fighting!" Pressman threatened Chris.

"Sure, you only outweigh him by five hundred pounds, fat ass!" I yelled angrily.

Pressman looked at me meaningfully. "I know your name. You're Allison Moore. I know all you guys and all your fathers are gonna get a call from me. Except for the loony up at Toucos."

Teddy, who had calmed down, realizing it was useless to struggle against Chris' grip, snapped again. Chris, who had foolishly loosened his grip, lunged forward with Gordie to restrain him again.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Teddy screamed.

You little foul-mouthed whoremaster!"

"Son of a bitch!" Teddy screamed as Chris dragged him away from the fence I picked up Chris' pack and Vern picked up Teddy's and we followed them.

"Come back here!" Pressman yelled after us.

"Shut up!" I yelled back.

"Nobody rigs on my old man! My father stormed the beach at Normandy!" Teddy continued to scream back at Pressman. His struggles weakened once he broke down into tears once Pressman and the junkyard were behind us. I walked behind the group, feeling uncomfortable with Teddy's current emotions. I never understood how Teddy could care some much about his dad, who almost killed him.

Everyone walked in silence. Chris never let his arm fall from Teddy's shoulder.

"We showed him. He thought we were a bunch of pussies!" Vern said into the quietness.

"He rigged my old man," Teddy sobbed.

"What do you care what a big, fat pile of shit like that says about your dad?" Chris asked him fiercely.

"He still stormed the beach at Normandy, right?" I added.

"Just forget it," Teddy mumbled, shaking his head in a defeated way.

"You think that pile of shit was at Normandy?" Vern questioned. "He don't know nothing about your old man. He's just dog shit!"

"Whatever is between you and your old man, he can't change that!" Chris exclaimed.

"Forget it, alright!" Teddy yelled, shrugging Chris off. "Just forget!" After a moment, he wiped his eyes and continued walking in a sad manner. We followed still concerned. Then Teddy stopped. We all turned to look at him. He looked at us sadly. "I'm sorry if I'm spoiling everybody's good time," he mumbled.

Chris clapped his shoulder. "It's ok, man," he whispered.

"I'm not sure it should be a good time," I interjected quietly.

Chris looked at me incredulously. "You saying you wanna go back?"

"No," I answered. That wasn't it at all. "We're going to see a dead kid. Maybe it shouldn't't be a party."

Chris looked down at his feet.

"Yeah," Vern added. "If he's really bad, all cut up and blood and guts and shit all over him, I might have nightmares."

"Come on, Vern," Chris mumbled, clearly not liking Vern's description of Ray Brower corpse.

"Like with his eyeballs and guts everywhere…" Vern continued, ignoring Chris' reaction.

"Shut up, Vern! God damn it!" Chris yelled angrily. He turned to glare at Vern.

"Sorry," Vern mumbled. "I can't help it…"


	10. Train!

We walked quietly down the tracks. Teddy was back to his not-so-normal self. Vern and Teddy started to sing "Lollipop" while I hummed along. Later I heard Teddy and Vern discussing if Mighty Mouse could beat up Superman.

After what seemed like hours, there wasn't much to talk my mind off of the fact that time seemed to move so slowly, we arrived at a narrow bridge crossing a small canyon. At the bottom was a wide river. We all stood there for a second, taking in the sight before us. Vern looked behind him, and then looked back at the bridge. "Any of you guys know when the next train is due?" I shook my head 'no.'

"We could go down to the route one-third bridge…" Chris suggested.

"What! Are you crazy?" Teddy exclaimed. "That's five miles down the river!"

"Yeah, but if a train comes, there's no where else to go."

"No, there isn't. We'll just jump," Teddy replied, nonchalant. I let out a harsh, sarcastic laugh.

"Teddy, it's a hundred feet," Chris remarked.

"Yeah, Teddy," Vern added.

"Look, you guys can go round if you want to," Teddy replied. "I'm crossing here. And while you guys are dragging your candy-asses half way across the state and back, I'll be waiting for you on the other side, relaxing with my thoughts."

"You use your left hand or your right hand for that?" Gordie remarked. I rolled my eyes at Gordie's perverted comment. "I'm not crossing that." Gordie added firmly.

"I dare you." Teddy said in a serious voice. Gordie looked at him a few seconds, probably expecting him to back out, but once it was clear that he was serious he said,

"Dares go first." So without another word, Teddy walked on to the bridge, quickly followed by me, Chris, Vern and finally Gordie. I wished Teddy would move faster, the height of the bridge was starting to upset my stomach. I tried to keep from looking down, but there was no where to look besides the back of Teddy's head which wasn't that interesting.

Then I heard Gordie yell, "Train!' I quickly turned my head to look behind me. All I saw a pillar of black smoke before I turned back around and ran, passing Teddy who was still looking at the train. I made to the other side and few seconds before Teddy and Chris. Vern and Gordie were still on the tracks. Vern was lying on the tracks and Gordie was pulling at him to get him up. Oh God! was all I could say, while Teddy and Chris were yelling at Vern to get up.

Vern finally got and the two of them ran. Gordie pushed Vern and himself off the tracks and into the embankment just was the train was about to hit them. The three of us waited on the other side at the train passed. Once it did we walked over to Vern and Gordie. Both of them were lying in the dirt, breathing heavily. After a moment Chris said, "Hey, at least now we know when the next train was due."


	11. It's His Ghost

Soon after night fell and decided to make camp for the night. I helped the guys picked fire wood. I hit Chris in the head after he decided to jump out from behind a tree and scare me. After building a fire we cooked the meat that Gordie and I had gotten. "Man that was the all-time train dodge!" Teddy cried. "Too cool! Vern, you were so scared that you looked like that fat guy Abbott Costello when he saw the mummy."

"I wasn't that scared!" Vern declared.

"Vern," we all said.

"Really, I wasn't. Sincerely."

"Okay, then you won't mind if we check to see in your jockeys for Hershey squirts, will ya?" Gordie teased.

"Go screw!" Vern replied.

"Hey, Vern. You better turn yours over," Chris said.

"This is the way I like to do it."

"Fine." Vern's meat dropped into the fire, sending the rest of us into fits of laughter. "Oh man! Oh, no, man! You got anymore, Al?"

"Sorry, Vern," I laughed.

"It's not funny! What am I supposed to eat?"

"Why don't you cook your dick?" Teddy quipped.

"It'd be a small meal," Chris replied. We all continued to laugh at Vern's misfortune.

"Aha! Screw you guys! I got it!" Vern replied. After dinner Chris passed out cigarettes that he had stolen from his dad. We discussed random topics, ranging from Goofy to Pez. I fell asleep before the guys, but all of us were awoken by a sound of loud howling in the distance. I sat up and Chris, who was lying at my head, grabbed his .45 from his pack.

"What the hell is that?" I asked to no in specific.

"Maybe its coyotes," Chris guessed, gun raised in one hand.

"Sounds like a woman screaming." Gordie said.

"Its not coyotes. It's his ghost. That Brower kid is walking through the woods," Teddy replied mysteriously.

Vern, who was trembling, said, "Oh, don't say that!" Teddy got up and began to move towards the trees.

"Hey, Teddy. Sit down," I said, astounded by his stupidity.

"I'm gonna go look for it. I wanna see the ghost," he responded.

Vern, "Don't say that!" Another howl broke through the woods, much closer this time. Teddy ran back to where we were gathered.

"Maybe we should stand guard," Vern suggested.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Chris nodded.

Teddy held out his hand. "Give me the gun. I'll take the first watch." Then it was decided. Teddy would stand guard first, then me, Vern, Chris and finally Gordie. We all settled into sleep, while Teddy stood guard first.

I was almost to sleep when I heard Teddy talking to himself, "Twenty-three hundred hours, Colonial Teddy stands guard......No sign of the enemy, the fort is secure."

"Shut up, Teddy." I said loudly.

He then started making a trumpet sound. Together, we told to Teddy to be quiet. "They rested easy, in the knowledge that Colonial Teddy was protecting all that was dear to them."

"If you say one more word, you're gonna lose something dear to you!" I said. Teddy was quiet the rest of the night.

My watch was very uneventful. I drew pictures in the dirt with a stick most of the time. After waking Vern, I laid back down and quickly fell asleep.


	12. Get In The Car!

The next morning we were awoken by the train passing by. Ignoring the heat we continued on our way, eating what was left of out food. "Jeez. Why couldn't't you have gotten some breakfast stuff, like Twinkies and Pez and root beer?" Vern accused.

"Sorry, Vern," I replied. "I guess a more experienced shopper could've gotten more for your seven cents."

With our stomachs rumbling, we pressed on towards the Royal River. The reality of Ray Brower was growing and kept us moving despite the heat. For me, the idea of seeing that kid's dead body was starting to become an obsession. Soon we were able to see the his voice full of pride, Chris announced. "Ladies and gentlemen, The Royal."

Teddy looked to the left. "God, the tracks go way out of the way."

"If we cut across this field here we'll be there in an hour," Chris replied.

Vern shook his head. "I think we should just stick to the tracks."

"I say we go across the field," Teddy countered. Gordie shook is head in agreement

"Al?" Chris asked me.

"Yeah." Was all I said. Anything to get us there sooner.

"Let's go!" Chris exclaimed and together we ran across the field lead into a thick strip of woods. The ground was still wet from the last ran. Some how I ended up in front of the group, which I wasn't liking too much. I heard Vern complain from behind me.

******  
Meanwhile, Charlie was in the bar playing pool with Ace. The others were off doing other stuff. Causally Charlie said, "Ace, I gotta tell you something, but you gotta swear on your mother's good name that you're not gonna tell anybody."

Ace barely looked up from the table, "You got it, pal."

While Charlie was confessing to Ace, Billy was doing the same thing to Eyeball. "Hey, Eyeball. You know that Brower kid?"

"What about him?"

Well, I could tell you something about him, but you gotta swear on your mother's good name that you're not gonna tell anybody?" Billy and Charlie had mange to keep their enormous secret for 36 hours. I personally record for both of them. By noon Ace and Eyeball had told their secret to everybody in the gang. I guess for those guys protecting their mother's good name wasn't the top priority.

"Hey, listen Ace. Maybe me and Charlie shouldn't go." Billy said nervously.

"Yeah. Maybe you can go with out us?" Charlie said.

"You guys are acting like my grandmother have a conniption fit. I don't see your problem. We go up with a whole bunch of fishing gear and if a cop asks us what we're doing there, "We just hear to take a few steel head out of the river and look at what we found.' " Ace said.

"Yeah. Come on, man. We're gonna be famous. We're gonna be on every t.v. show in the country." Vince announced from the hood of the car.

"I still don't think we should go." Charlie said again.

"Okay....okay. You stated your position clearly. And now I'm gonna state mine; Get in the fucking car. Now!" Ace said with malice in his voice.


	13. Shortcut

"I hate this shortcut," Vern grumbled.

"I hate this shortcut," Teddy mocked him. Vern made a quick movement, and Teddy flinched. Vern burst into laughter.

"You flinched! Two for flinching! Ha-ha!"

Teddy punched him twice in the arm. "But…you flinched," Vern said, confused.

"I know. Two for flinching," Teddy rolled his eyes. I stopped abruptly. In front of us, water covered the ground. The water was a dark murky color, making in impossible to see the bottom.

"How are supposed to get across this?" Vern complained.

"We use you as a raft." Teddy joked.

"Very funny."

Chris picked up a stick from the ground and stuck it into the dirty water. The ground was only about an inch beneath the water. "It's not that deep. We can walk across." He threw the stick aside. With that, we started across the took three steps and found ourselves deep in murky water. I gasped for air as my head broke the surface. I quickly moved my wet hair from my face. The water was warm and tasted like dirt.

"I told you should have stuck to the tracks." Vern said.

Teddy turned to him and said, "Is it just me or are you the world's biggest pussy?"

"I suppose this fun for you?" Vern replied sarcastically.

"No. But this is." With that, he grabbed Vern's head and dunked him under the surface, laughing the whole time. I rolled my eyes as Vern and Teddy wrestled with each other in the water.

"Come on, Teddy! Act your age!" Chris cried.

"Not your IQ." I whispered to myself.

"This is my age!" Teddy cried back. "I'm in the prime of my youth and I'll only be young once!"

"Yeah, but you're gonna be stupid for the rest of your life." Chris said, who seemed to have heard my comment.

I looked ahead at the bank as I heard Teddy reply, "Ooh, that's it, Chambers! You just signed your own death warrant! You die, Chambers!"

I turned as Teddy and Vern pounced on Chris and Gordie. Leaving the boys to their wrestling match, I waded my way over to bank on the other side of the swamp. I nearly got there unnoticed until I heard Chris taunting voice, "Hey! Where d'you think your going, Al?"

I turned. "Come on you, guys," I sighed. I continued to move towards the bank. They were still swimming towards me. "Come on you guys!" I repeated louder. Suddenly, I was tackled to the ground. I glanced up and saw Chris on top of me, grinning. I groaned as I felt Vern's' weight and Teddy's weight pile on top off me. I saw Gordie walk by, clearly tired from his horse play, "Get off guys!" I yelled.

They ignored my completely. Vern grabbed my head and held it in a lock. "Sleeper hold! Sleeper hold!" he chanted, tugging on my ear. I was complating biting his arm when I saw something on his neck.

"Hey, Vern. Vern! There's something on your neck!"

"Yeah right! I'm not falling for that one, Al!"

"No, Vern, there is something on your neck!" Gordie yelled as he came over to investigate.

"It's a leech…" Teddy trailed. Then he screamed, "LEECHES!"


	14. Faint

We were all on our feet at once, yelling at the top of our lungs. We stripped down to our underwear, I was in such a panic I didn't care, frantically ripping the leeches from our bodies. Small black shapes lay all over my body, but it appeared that I had a lot less than the guys. I could feel the little sucking motions pulling at my skin. I picked all of them out me.

"Gordie, there's some on your back!" Chris exclaimed. He swung around and let Chris swat the leeches from his back.

"Are there any on mine?" Chris asked me, turning his back to me. I quickly brushed the leeches off his back.

Eventually, all the leeches were gone from our bodies. However, something didn't feel right to me. Then, I noticed that I was half naked, standing with a group of half naked guys. But no one was paying my any attention, they were all looking at Gordie.

He looked down into his underwear and pulled a leech out.

"Oh shit…." He muttered. "Chris. Oh, shit, Chris," He said looking up, his voice shaking. We looked back at him warily. "Oh shit, man!" Suddenly he fell over onto his back.

"Gordie, man, are you okay?" We all practically asked in unison as we rushed towards Gordie. Chris shook him softly. His eyes fluttered open. "It's okay he just fainted." Chris said.

"God, I never met anybody who fainted before." Vern said, in awe.

"Maybe he made a mistake and looked at your face." Teddy replied.

"Shut up, Teddy." I said and Teddy looked over at me and his eyes lingered. I gave him a very dirty which made him turn back to Gordie.

"Are you okay?" Chris asked again.

"Yeah." Chris helped Gordie up onto his feet. After that I made my way silently behind a tree and got dressed. I heard the guys discussing what had happened to Gordie. About whether or not to go back home. Gordie answered that question quickly.

"I'm not going back." Was all Gordie said before he grabbed his stuff and walked away. The rest of us followed closely behind.


	15. I See Him!

Meanwhile, Ace and the guys were on their to the back Harlow road too. Ace moved his car in the other lane and drove besides Vince. Billy and Charlie cheered at the top of their lungs as they held their beers. "No way, Ace. Not this time." Vince yelled out the window.

"Go for it, Vince, go for it." Ace said before he stomped his foot onto the gas petal. Vince did the same thing in the other car. They were still tried when a large truck carrying logs came over the hill in the distant.

"Oh, God! I got him. I got him. You are history, pretty guy. His-tor-y!" Vince yelled when he saw the truck. By Ace didn't fall back. Billy and Charlie, who were the only ones in the car with Ace, exchanged worried looks.

"Fall back, Ace." Charlie pleaded.

"Yea. Don't fuck around." Billy said, griping the beer tighter in his hand. But Ace just chewed on the tooth pick in his mouth and kept driving. The truck kept coming.

"Jesus Christ, Ace. Fall back!" Charlie was now yelling. At the last minute, when it was almost impossible to avoid a collision, the driver of the truck swerved off the road. Ace speed up and passed Vince, who was watching in dismay.

"Shit. Shit, man. Shit." Vince hit is steering wheel a few times.

"I won." Was all Ace said.

Back in the car with Vince, Eyeball laughed at his loss, "You let him beat you, you cock knocker."  
_________

"Coming through the woods, I thought would have saved over an hour," Chris said optimistically. We had finally made it to South Harlow. We arrived at a country lane that overlapped with the rail tracks. Our clothes were already dry and Gordie still hadn't spoken much.

"Teddy?"Chris asked.

"Yeah?"

"Is this the Back Harlow Road?" He asked.

He looked down the lane, then looked back at Chris. "Yeah."

"The Brower kid must be around here some place. Teddy, Al and Vern, you take the left side of the tracks. We'll take the right." Chris decided.

"All right," Teddy agreed, and we set off along the tracks. As I looked around the bushes, a strong wind blew through my hair. I looked up at the sky. Large dark clouds cover the once blue sky. It was then that I noticed that the temperature at dropped. A slight chill went through my body. I had a strange feeling that something bad was about to happen. I thinking about what these bad things could be when Vern's voice brought me back to reality.

"There he is! I see him! Look! Over here! I see him, I see him!"


	16. The Body

We all ran to where Vern was standing, his thick finger pointing. None of us could breath. Some where under those bushes was the rest of Ray Brower. I suddenly got an uneasy feeling in my stomach as Chris pushed through us and to look at the body. The feeling grew stronger as I followed the guys.

The train had knocked Ray Brower out of his Keds just as it had knocked the life out of his body. The kid wasn't sick. The kid wasn't sleeping. The kid was dead. Chris grabbed a sick and moved the brush off the kid's face, something I wished he didn't do. I couldn't help but to look into the face. The face was pale except for the purple and blue blotches on the side and a few drops of red blood. The kid's eyes were opened wide with fear. I couldn't take my eyes off of his. My stomach tighten a little. Even when Chris said, "Let's look for some long branches. We'll build him a stretcher." I still didn't avert my eyes.

The guys moved to do as Chris said. I stood there in my place for a few seconds. Then my stomach seemed to do a back flip. Not about to let the others see me get sick, I ran back to the tracks. I saw Chris give me an understanding look as I passed him. I crossed the tracks and threw up into the bushes. My stomach seemed get better with each time I purged. I wasn't sure what caused me to get sick. Maybe it was the lack of decent food. Maybe it was long journey. Or maybe it was the look that was fixed on Ray Browers' face. My stomach was either empty or I was finally better, for I stopped throwing up. I wiped my face out and then turned back around to head back to the guys. I eyes were met by a familiar face.

"Oh, God." I said as I stared at Ace Merrill and Eyeball Chambers. They seemed just as surprised as I was. Ace roughly grabbed my arm and pulled me across the tracks. He then preceded to push me around while saying fiercely, "Well, what in the fuck do you know about this?" My foot got caught on a tree root and I stumbled into to Teddy who wasn't paying attention.

"Jesus, Al. Watch -." Teddy was cut off by Eyeball saying, "Son of a bitch. My little brother. " I quickly regained my balance and stood slightly behind Teddy,

"You wasn't t planning on taking the body from us, was ya boys? Ace asked, his walk every threatening.

"No. We're just here to stare and poke at him." I said sarcastically. Vern flashed me a 'shut-the-hell-up' look.

You get away, man, Chris replied, looking a little shaken. His voice was rather weak and soft. We found him. We got dibs! Chris argued. Some how having dibs on a dead body didn't feel right to me.

"You hear that, Eyeball? They got dibs." Ace said.

Eyeball laughed quietly, "Well, not anymore."

"That's not fair, he's ours'. We earned him." Chris pleaded.

"That's not fair, he's ours'." Eyeball mocked his little brother.

"There's four of us, Eyeball. You just make your move." Teddy said.

"Five, Teddy. There's five of us." I said quickly.

Oh we will, don t you worry, Ace smirked. Behind them appeared Billy Tessio, Charlie Hogan, Vince and a few other members of the Cobras. I took a slight step back behind Teddy.

Vern, you little son of a whore! Charlie cursed, coming down the slight incline. He was able to avoid the root I had tripped over. You were under the porch!

No, I swear! Vern cried, hands out in front of him as if to stop them from coming. It wasn't me!

You little peep-hole looking bunghole! I ought to beat the shit out of you! Billy raged, joining Charlie, Ace and Eyeball at the bottom of the incline. Vince and the rest of the gang followed Billy fled, in terror, into the trees behind us. One down.

Ace motioned for Billy to stop, it was clear you was the leader. Ace looked back at us. Now, you have two choices. One: you leave quietly, we take the body. Or two: you stay, we beat the shit out of you, and we take the body. I had a feeling that they were going to beat the shit out of us anyways.

Besides, Billy and I found him first, Charlie complained.

Yeah, Vern told us how you found him, Teddy said. Oh, Billy! I wish we never boosted that car! Oh, Billy! I think I just turned my Fruit Loops into a fudge factory! he mocked in a childish voice. I couldn't help my laugh. Ace looked like he was about to laugh too.

"That's it. Your ass is grass." Charlie started forward but was stopped by Ace's arm. He then turned back to us and said.

Okay, Chambers, you little faggot. This is your last chance. What d you say, kid?

Why don t you go home and fuck your mother some more? was Chris' only words. This time I didn't laugh. I didn't laugh because Chris was serious.


	17. No!

I held my breath as I watched Ace pull a knife out of his pocket. "You're dead." His voice was full of hate. Ace then moved towards us. Teddy panicked.

Come on, Chris, man. He s got a knife! With the last word, Teddy ran to where Vern had ran. Two down. With my mind blank, I moved in between Chris and Ace. Ace stopped in front of me, knife still in hand. His blue eyes were full of anger and violence.

"Move." Ace said, his voice almost inaudible. But I could still hear the malice in it.

"No." I said in a whisper. I kept my place in front of Chris. Ace seemed surprised by my lack of moving, but his face only showed if for a second.

In the same low voice, Ace repeated himself, "Move, Allison. Now!" My brain was screaming at me to move, but my feet stood still. I was not voluntarily moving from this spot. Ace seemed to realize this too, for he lost his patience with me. Ace grabbed me by the arm and pulled me behind him. My surprise caused me to stumble farther than I normally would have. After I regained my balance, I turned around to place myself back in front of Ace, but I stopped my a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to Eyeball but he wasn't looking at me but at Ace with an anxious look on his face.

I held my breath as Ace slowly moved towards Chris with the knife. I was so focused on Ace and Chris that I did see Gordie searching though Chris' bag. They re not taking him, Chris said, his voice strong. Next to me, Eyeball said, Ace, come on But Ace ignored him and moved closer to Chris. "You re gonna have to kill me, Ace." Chris said, still not moving.

"No problem." Ace 's voice was full of indifference. The knife was to Chris' throat when a gunshot erupted through the air. Everyone's eyes turned towards Gordie, who held the gun high above his head. Glaring at Ace and pointing the gun in his direction, Gordie moved down to stand next to Chris.

"You're not taking him. Nobody s taking him." Gordie announced. His voice has cold.

"C'mon, kid, give me the gun before you take your foot off." Ace said, looking a little shaken. He proceeded to move towards Gordie and Chris. Gordie held the gun tighter and flicked the safety switch off. Which Ace stop in his tracks.

"One move, Ace," Gordie all but whispered, and I ll kill you, I swear to God."

"C'mon Lachance, give me the gun, Ace demanded coolly. You must have some more sense than your dim-witted friends?"

Gordie breathed in heavily. "Suck my fat one, you cheap dime-store hood.

"What are you gonna do? Shoot us all?" Ace asked, not moving.

"No Ace. Just you."

Ace looked nervously at his friends. His eyes flickered to Eyeball's hand still on my shoulder. Eyeball dropped his hand quickly. He looked Chris dead in the eye, held up his knife and said in a low, threatening voice, We re gonna get you for this.

Chris looked skeptical. "Maybe you will and maybe you won't."

"Oh we will." Ace turned and jerked his head at the boys, and they reluctantly turned and left. He followed suite slowly. As he passed me, he quickly gave me two pats on my head. At the top of the incline to the tracks, Ace turned back to us and said, "We re not gonna forget this if that s what your thinking. This is big time baby."

Chris rolled his eyes. Gordie kept the gun firmly in front of his body. Once Ace had finally gone, we relaxed at once.


	18. Friends

I exhaled quietly. Teddy and Vern came back from their hiding places in the woods. Gordie slowly lowered the gun as Chris turned towards him. "'Suck my fat one?' Who ever told you you had a fat one, Lachance?"

A smile appeared on Gordie's face. "Biggest one in four counties." Chris laughed quietly before changed the subject.

"Are we gonna take him?"

Gordie answered before Chris could. "No." His voice left little room for questioning.

"But, we came all this way. We were supposed to be heroes." Teddy said, trying to change Gordie's mind.

"Not this way, Teddy. Chris, give me a hand." Gordie took out his blanket and together he and Chris covered Ray Browers body.

Ray Brower's body was found. But neither our gang, nor their gang got the credit. In the end we decided that an anonymous phone call was the best thing to do. We headed home and although many thoughts raced through our minds, we barely spoke. We walked through the night and made it back to Castle Rock a little past five o'clock on Sunday morning, the day before Labor Day. We'd only been gone two days, but somehow the town seemed different smaller. We stopped in the middle of the street and turned to look at each other. No one seemed to know what to say.

Vern was the first to speak. "See you in school." We all shook our heads and said, "Yea." Satisfied he turned and walked away. After a few steps he stopped and picked something off the ground. With a smile on his face he said, " A penny."

"Well, guys I better get home before my mom puts me on the Ten Most Wanted list. Hey, Chris. No hard feelings, okay?" Teddy asked as he walked away.

"No way, man.' Chris said with a soft smile on his face.

Sensing that it was turn to leave, I said goodbye to Chris and Gordie. "I'll see you guys later." And with a wave I set off towards my house.

As time went on we saw less and less of Teddy and Vern, until eventually they became just two more faces in the halls. It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of your life like busboys in a restaurant. I heard that Vern got married out of high school, had four kids, and is now the forklift operator at the Arsenal lumberyard. Teddy tried several times to get into the Army, but his eyes and ear kept him out. The last time I'd heard, he'd spent some time in jail. He was now doing odd jobs around Castle Rock.

As for me, I made new friends. But the friends I had when I was 15 will always me special to me. Towards the end of my junior, I finally gave in to Ace's advances towards me. I was at a party one night and he offered me a ride home. I figured I should just get it over with, so I got in the car with. After that night, Ace rarely talked to me, which was what I wanted.

Chris enrolled into the college courses with Gordie and I. He went on to college and eventually became a lawyer. Last week he entered a fast food restaurant. Just ahead of him, two men got into an argument one of them pulled a knife. Chris, who had always made the best peace, tried to break it up. He was stabbed in the throat. He died almost instantly. Although I hadn't seen him in more than ten years, I know I'll miss him forever. 


End file.
